New restaurants and bars opening in London this week

This week is one of the busiest for new openings in 2026 so far. The chef behind Trullo comes to Covent Garden, Taqueria in Notting Hill gets a big revamp as TAQ, Sale e Pepe opens its first new restaurant in 50 years and lots more besides.

Burro

Covent Garden - 2 Floral Court, Floral Street, London WC2E 9FB

This sees Conor Gadd, chef and co-owner of Trullo in Islington launching his first solo restaurant. He's taken over the space that used to be The Petersham in Covent Garden for a restaurant that's mixing the Italian food he's best known for with his Irish roots. So you can expect an Italian menu, with dishes like tagliatelle with duck and porcini ragu, vitello "al burro" and tiramisu doughnuts. Trullo is always excellent, so we're expecting big things from this.

Opening date: 6 March 2026 (soft launch 6-8 March)

Sale e Pepe Mare

Marylebone - The Langham Hotel, 1c Portland Place, Regent Street, London W1B 1JA

The original Sale e Pepe has been around for 50 years, but has recently been acquired by the Thesleff Group. They're now opening their second venue inside the Langham. It's taking over a space which hasn't had the best recent track record, but this is a group with a good few successful openings behind it, like Los Mochis, so we have hopes that they'll make it work. Here, as the name suggests, the focus will be on seafood, and you can expect lots of trolley action, with Caesar salads and bucatini cacio e pepe made tableside.

Opening date: 2 March 2026

TAQ

Notting Hill - 141-145 Westbourne Grove, London W11 2RR

This has been Taqueria for the past 20 years, but now they've decided that it's time to try something new. They've brought in someone who's had real success in rebooting a Notting Hill restaurant, Jackson Boxer, who is working closely with TAQ's new chef Eduardo Yishima. Expect classic tacos, tostadas and quesadillas and even a taco which is inspired by the famous off-menu burger at Jackson Boxer's Dove.

Opening date: 3 March 2026

Cooper's Cut

Tower Bridge - 10 Trinity Square, London EC3N 4AJ

Taking over the space that was once the Michelin-starred Le Dame de Pic, this is the new steakhouse at The Four Seasons at Tower Bridge. So it's quite the change from what's come before, but it could end up being a better draw for hotel guests and city folk alike. Steaks include British grass-fed, Cumbrian Belted Galloway, Wagyu and Galician cuts, and we particularly like the sound of the Three Martini Mid-Day pairing lunch.

Opening date: 2 March 2026

MRBL

City of London - 23 - 25 Leadenhall Market, London EC3V 1LR

This is the second new steakhouse in the City being unveiled this week, opening inside Leadenhall Market. We're not 100% convinced by the name, but it comes from the same people behind the market's Boom Bab Burger with this opening being billed as a modern British steakhouse. We can see the lunchtime steak sandwich being a draw for city workers, and they're also joining the martini bandwagon with a special "martini and fries" menu.

Opening date: 4 March 2026

Med Salleh Restaurant

Kentish Town - 320 Kentish Town Road, London NW5 2TH

Med Salleh is a restaurant that Giles Coren loves, so we can guess that he's pretty happy that their latest opening is in his neighbourhood. With this new restaurant, we're told to expect "the vibrant flavours of Malaysian street food, from the tastes of Ipoh to Penang" with dishes like Kamparian classic salted fish claypot chicken rice.

Opening date: Soft launch 2 March 2026

Maki & Ramen

Soho - 9 Old Compton Street, London W1D 5JF

Opening where La Bodega Negra once was, Maki & Ramen first launched in Scotland and this is their first opening in London (but not their last, as they're already planning to open at The O2 and Lakeside. There are 17 ramen options to choose from, as well as sushi, chicken karaage, tempura squid and takoyaki. They'll also have a late (until 1am) licence in Soho, so this could be a very handy late-night spot.

Opening date: 6 March 2026

This week's events

2 March (Billingsgate) - We're not at all sure what to think about this one, but a celebrity chef boxing match (together with a meal) sees chefs like Jason Atherton, Paul Foster, Niall Keating, Chloe McCoy, and Woongchul Park going at it. Tickets are £180.

3 March (Piccadilly) - TV Chef and presenter Shivia Ramoutar is holding a supperclub at Fortnum's Food & Drink Studio. The £80 ticket includes a welcome drink and multi-course meal with dishes including blackened Creole chicken and salted tamarind caramel sundae.

5 March (Tooting) - Mr Bao is celebrating its 10th birthday with a one-night-only feast that's made up of the greatest hits from the last decade at the restaurant. Tickets are £45.

6/7 March (Fitzrovia) - Chilean restaurant Mareida is starting its new "Latam" series with acclaimed Chilean chef Nicolás Tapia, of Yum Cha in Santiago (one of Latin America's 50 Best Restaurants) who is popping up for two nights.

Here's what opened last week

Tamila (Soho) - The South Indian curry house opened its flagship location.

Forza Wine (Soho) - The third natural wine bar from Forza.

Whiteley’s Kitchen, Bar & Café (Bayswater) - The next big opening inside the newly revamped The Whiteley.

Looking for more of the latest openings?